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Dan-Air
Dan-Air (legally Dan Air Services Limited) was an airline based in the United Kingdom and a wholly owned subsidiary of London-based shipbroking firm Davies and Newman. It was started in 1953 with a single aircraft. Initially, it operated cargo and passenger charter flights from Southend (1953–1955) and Blackbushe airports (1955–1960) using a variety of piston-engined aircraft before moving to a new base at Gatwick Airport in 1960, followed by expansion into inclusive tour (IT) charter flights and all-year round scheduled services. The introduction of two de Havilland Comet series 4 jet aircraft in 1966 made Dan-Air the second British independent airline after British United Airways to begin sustained jet operations.
The early 1970s saw the acquisition of a pair of Boeing 707 long-haul jets for use on affinity group and Advance Booking Charter flights to Canada and the United States. In 1973, Dan-Air became the first British airline to operate the Boeing 727 trijet. By the mid-1970s, it had become Britain's largest independent airline, both in terms of passengers carried and fleet size, operating the country's largest charter fleet. This was also the time a Dan-Air staff member, Yvonne Pope Sintes became Britain's and Europe's first female jet captain.
By the early 1980s, the airline had also become the leading operator of fixed wing oil industry support flights, operating a fleet of 13 Hawker Siddeley 748 turboprops between bases on the Scottish mainland and the Shetland Islands under contract to firms involved in North Sea oil exploration. In 1983, Dan-Air was the first airline to launch commercial operations with British Aerospace 146 regional jet. The acquisition of an Airbus A300 in 1986 marked Dan-Air's widebody debut and the late 1980s saw a major expansion of their scheduled activities, including the introduction of two-class services on trunk routes. Passenger numbers peaked in 1989 at 6.2 million (1.8 million on scheduled services).
Lack of vertical integration with a tour operator, and an inefficient fleet mix dominated by ageing Boeing 727s and BAC One-Elevens made Dan-Air uncompetitive, resulting in increasing marginalisation and growing financial difficulties as well as a change in senior management and strategy by the early 1990s. Following unsuccessful attempts to merge Dan-Air with a competitor, the ailing airline was sold to British Airways in 1992 for the nominal sum of £1.
Dan-Air's parent Davies and Newman had been engaged in shipbroking in the City of London since 1922. It subsequently diversified into air charter broking from an office at London's Baltic Mercantile and Shipping Exchange. Amongst Davies and Newman's clients for whom it acted as an air charter broker was a small airline called Meredith Air Transport. Meredith was formed in 1952 as a small ad hoc charter operator and flew a single Douglas DC-3 out of Southend Airport, where it also had its head office. When Meredith's only aircraft suffered a mishap while taking off from Jerusalem's Atarot Airport on Christmas Eve 1952 that damaged the aircraft's tailwheel, this caused major disruption to the company's business. As a result, Meredith soon found itself in financial difficulties. Davies and Newman agreed to take a debenture on Meredith's aircraft in return for extending financial assistance. When Meredith's financial problems worsened and the debenture became due for repayment, Davies & Newman took over the aircraft together with a six-month contract to operate a series of charter flights between Southend and West Berlin's Tempelhof Airport that formed part of the second Little Berlin Airlift.
Dan-Air began commercial air services in the UK in May 1953 with the aircraft it had taken over from Meredith Air Transport, a single Douglas DC-3 bearing the registration G-AMSU. The fledgling airline received its air operator's certificate on 23 May 1953.
Dan-Air derived its name from its parent's initials, Davies, And, Newman. The company was incorporated on 21 May 1953 as Dan Air Services Limited, with a capital of £5,000. To emphasise that this was a British rather than a Danish company, the airline's aircraft displayed the suffix "London" with the Dan-Air name on both sides of the fuselage. This convention was followed until a year before Dan-Air's takeover by British Airways, when the "London" suffix was dropped from fuselage titles.
Dan-Air's first commercial service – an ad hoc charter flight from Southend via Manchester to Shannon – occurred in June 1953. Operations initially continued from Meredith's old base at Southend Airport, where Meredith managed Dan-Air's operations for the first six months. (Following the end of Meredith's contract to manage Dan-Air's operations at Southend, Meredith Air Transport changed its name to African Air Safaris on 29 November 1954.)
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Dan-Air
Dan-Air (legally Dan Air Services Limited) was an airline based in the United Kingdom and a wholly owned subsidiary of London-based shipbroking firm Davies and Newman. It was started in 1953 with a single aircraft. Initially, it operated cargo and passenger charter flights from Southend (1953–1955) and Blackbushe airports (1955–1960) using a variety of piston-engined aircraft before moving to a new base at Gatwick Airport in 1960, followed by expansion into inclusive tour (IT) charter flights and all-year round scheduled services. The introduction of two de Havilland Comet series 4 jet aircraft in 1966 made Dan-Air the second British independent airline after British United Airways to begin sustained jet operations.
The early 1970s saw the acquisition of a pair of Boeing 707 long-haul jets for use on affinity group and Advance Booking Charter flights to Canada and the United States. In 1973, Dan-Air became the first British airline to operate the Boeing 727 trijet. By the mid-1970s, it had become Britain's largest independent airline, both in terms of passengers carried and fleet size, operating the country's largest charter fleet. This was also the time a Dan-Air staff member, Yvonne Pope Sintes became Britain's and Europe's first female jet captain.
By the early 1980s, the airline had also become the leading operator of fixed wing oil industry support flights, operating a fleet of 13 Hawker Siddeley 748 turboprops between bases on the Scottish mainland and the Shetland Islands under contract to firms involved in North Sea oil exploration. In 1983, Dan-Air was the first airline to launch commercial operations with British Aerospace 146 regional jet. The acquisition of an Airbus A300 in 1986 marked Dan-Air's widebody debut and the late 1980s saw a major expansion of their scheduled activities, including the introduction of two-class services on trunk routes. Passenger numbers peaked in 1989 at 6.2 million (1.8 million on scheduled services).
Lack of vertical integration with a tour operator, and an inefficient fleet mix dominated by ageing Boeing 727s and BAC One-Elevens made Dan-Air uncompetitive, resulting in increasing marginalisation and growing financial difficulties as well as a change in senior management and strategy by the early 1990s. Following unsuccessful attempts to merge Dan-Air with a competitor, the ailing airline was sold to British Airways in 1992 for the nominal sum of £1.
Dan-Air's parent Davies and Newman had been engaged in shipbroking in the City of London since 1922. It subsequently diversified into air charter broking from an office at London's Baltic Mercantile and Shipping Exchange. Amongst Davies and Newman's clients for whom it acted as an air charter broker was a small airline called Meredith Air Transport. Meredith was formed in 1952 as a small ad hoc charter operator and flew a single Douglas DC-3 out of Southend Airport, where it also had its head office. When Meredith's only aircraft suffered a mishap while taking off from Jerusalem's Atarot Airport on Christmas Eve 1952 that damaged the aircraft's tailwheel, this caused major disruption to the company's business. As a result, Meredith soon found itself in financial difficulties. Davies and Newman agreed to take a debenture on Meredith's aircraft in return for extending financial assistance. When Meredith's financial problems worsened and the debenture became due for repayment, Davies & Newman took over the aircraft together with a six-month contract to operate a series of charter flights between Southend and West Berlin's Tempelhof Airport that formed part of the second Little Berlin Airlift.
Dan-Air began commercial air services in the UK in May 1953 with the aircraft it had taken over from Meredith Air Transport, a single Douglas DC-3 bearing the registration G-AMSU. The fledgling airline received its air operator's certificate on 23 May 1953.
Dan-Air derived its name from its parent's initials, Davies, And, Newman. The company was incorporated on 21 May 1953 as Dan Air Services Limited, with a capital of £5,000. To emphasise that this was a British rather than a Danish company, the airline's aircraft displayed the suffix "London" with the Dan-Air name on both sides of the fuselage. This convention was followed until a year before Dan-Air's takeover by British Airways, when the "London" suffix was dropped from fuselage titles.
Dan-Air's first commercial service – an ad hoc charter flight from Southend via Manchester to Shannon – occurred in June 1953. Operations initially continued from Meredith's old base at Southend Airport, where Meredith managed Dan-Air's operations for the first six months. (Following the end of Meredith's contract to manage Dan-Air's operations at Southend, Meredith Air Transport changed its name to African Air Safaris on 29 November 1954.)